Real costs of living in Cuenca

We, like many of our friends who live in Cuenca, have become concerned about the world-wide publicity that Ecuador is getting in the press, publicity that often shows only the glowing side of things and not the whole picture. While this attention is mostly justified, Ecuador is often misunderstood as being a cure-all for every problem with dirt cheap living costs. In the past few years, Costa Rica and Panama received similar accolades which led to overbuilding and a rapid increase in the cost of living and eventual disappointment by many who came to find their paradise.

We have seen the effect of the world-wide recession on friends and have met and corresponded with many people who are looking for answers to their own desires for change that might bring a full and comfortable life style.  Almost all are near or in retirement and are looking for a way to conserve their remaining assets and to live as well as they can on their retirement income. Living in the States and in Europe has become dicey at best for many of them. Often this means they must find a way and a place to live on Social Security and their pensions. Fortunately, this has worked for us and we have managed to live well on our retirement income. We do worry, however, that this will not remain the case if Ecuador follows the “progress” of Panama and Costa Rica. We are concerned about overbuilding, a rising cost of living, and a change in the character of Cuenca brought about by a huge influx of “wealthy” newcomers because the income, though modest by US standards, is “rich” by Ecuadorian standards.

There will be some disagreement with the lists that follow but these are our real costs not just estimates out of the blue. The column on the left represents our actual costs for two adults plus school for Jonny. The column on the right is an estimate of how these costs for two could be reduced to a lower monthly total. Somewhere in between is probably where you might land.

Rent                $740 -large 4 B/R apartment $300 - 2 B/R apartment

Food               $500 -supermarket food      $400 - for two at Mercados, etc.

Dining out        $240 - twice a week             $120 - once a week

Utilities            $60 – electric,gas, water       $40 – electric, gas,  water

Cell phone       $30 – 2 phones buy minutes  $10 – 2 phones used infrequently

Internet            $90 – Best speed                  $30 – slower plan

Computer        $15 – supplies – high use       $5 – supplies– low use

Cable/Satellite $76 – Direct TV w/ extras     $30 – Direct TV basic

Transportation $60 – car with gas expense   $60 – no car, use bus and taxis

Vacations        $100 – One trip a year          $0 – No vacation

School            $250 – private school            $0 – No children

Maid               $135 – 3 days at $15 day     $0 – no maid

Clothing           $15                                      $5

Haircuts           $10 – for two                      $10 – for two

Gym                $40 – for two                      $0 – no gym

Medical           $50 – pay as you go            $50 – pay as you go

Vitamins          $5                                       $0 – no vitamins

Cash               $400  little things                 $300 – fewer little things

                            $2816                                 $1360

The above expenses don’t include any emergency costs, unexpected medical bills, or one time purchases that always seem to pop up and ruin the budget. Our expense of roughly $3000 a month is less than half the same categories and their cost in North Carolina. Other expats will have other ideas of what it costs for them to live in Cuenca but, no matter how you massage it, the expenses for two living here will probably come somewhere within these two totals.

Internet update

We mentioned last week that we have recently been having problems with our internet connection and received a number of emails asking us to let them know how we solved the problem. We recently contracted with Empresa, the electric company, because we had heard that they were a better connection than Etapa, the water company, our present provider. Empresa technicians came yesterday afternoon to install our modem but insisted they had to drill a hole from the outside through our apartment wall so they could lead an optical fiber wire into the apartment. The owner’s of the building did not want wires running up the building and into our apartment so, we are staying with Etapa for our internet service. The Etapa technician came later in the day to see if we had a local problem as they insisted that their service was back to normal after a couple of weeks of tower problems.  He shrugged his head when we asked if there was any way for us to get a better connection. In rapid Spanish he explained the compression problem when too many people are on line at the same time and apologized for the fact that mornings and late afternoon were times when service is slower than evenings and mid-day. We’ll give Etapa a try for the next few weeks and keep our fingers crossed that they have solved their problems. For the last year, we have not had problems with our internet connection, only with Skype dropping calls, so hopefully all is going to be OK.

Trivia and more trivia

When looking into the possibility of moving to Ecuador, there are the usual big things to think about like cost of living, Language, owning a car, etc. etc. etc. But, there are lots of little things, even some not so little, depending on your particular interests and needs. Here is a partial list of basic facts. Some are permanent. Some change with the wind and politics. Some we have mentioned before but it can never be too many times.

 

The Ecuadorian economy uses the US dollar and all of the US currency. But, due to much counterfeiting, most merchants will not accept more than a $20 bill and will scrutinize the watermarks carefully before taking it.

Electricity is the same 110 volt as the US therefore all American appliances will work in Ecuador using the same two or three prong outlet plug. No converter is required as is needed in Europe.

However, that said, DVD players bought in the US will not play DVD’s purchased in Ecuador. DVD players all over the world have a disgraceful block built in that allows them to only be used in the region where they are purchased. But, if you bring a US DVD player it will play US DVD’s in Ecuador. You just can’t use DVD’s purchased here on a US DVD player.  If you buy a DVD player here you can purchase pirated DVD music or movies for $1.50 each.

Cable and Direct TV are available and widely subscribed to.  TV movies are in English with Spanish subtitles (good way to learn Spanish). CNN, Fox news and Bloomberg news are broadcast in English along with many Spanish news programs. Sports are endemic and, if you like futbol, it is on TV almost constantly.

You will find many familiar brands of food, electronics, appliances, even some clothing but choice is quite limited regarding size and products.  Imported brands have a high protective tariff which makes them more expensive than locally produced products which are, fortunately, often just as good.

Computer stores are common but the choice of laptops and desktops is very limited. A store will normally have three or four Toshiba laptops and a few generic desk tops to offer. The old computer company, Compaq, sells computers here in limited quantities.  It is a good idea to bring whatever computer hardware and software you require. All software is available in Ecuador but it is in Spanish.  Bring Windows or Mac OS with you. It will work on any computer. Pirated operating systems like Windows will get blocked by Microsoft or Apple in about a month if you try to use them so a licensed US or Spanish version is necessary.

Keyboards bought in Ecuador will be somewhat different from those you are used to so it makes sense to bring your US keyboard when you come.  You can get used to it but your fingers seem to have a mind of their own and go to the wrong place too often.

There is no 8 ½ by 11 copy paper sold in the stores only the larger A4 paper but both can be used in the inexpensive Canon, Epson, or Lexmark printers available here.

Almost everyone has a cell phone. If you bring a US cell phone it will have to be “unlocked.”  A few local electronic stores will unlock your phone for about $10. Most familiar brands of cell phones are available for purchase at Movistar or Porta, the two largest cell phone providers.

Skype or Vonage work well here when the connection is strong and give an affordable way to talk to friends around the world.  Both drop calls when traffic is heavy.

The time zone is the same as East Coast US standard time. However, we do not use Daylight Savings Time in Ecuador.

The weather is always a topic of discussion everywhere. Here in Cuenca, we are fortunate not to have any severe weather only an occasional heavy thunder storm and our recent and well publicized earthquake of a 7.2 magnitude that thankfully caused no damage. It was the most severe ever felt here yet was a rarity. The apartment buildings are supposedly built to seismological standards. No snow or icy streets. No hurricanes. No tornados.

Driving while crazy, is thankfully on the right side of the road (usually).

We use the metric system so you will have to get used to Kilometers, grams, liters, and centigrade.  This usually causes no problem as most US people are already used to metrics but, the one place it takes some adjustment is with the stove. Download a Fahrenheit to centigrade chart from the internet so you will have a ready reference to set your stove oven correctly. Also, the high altitude of Cuenca makes baking a crapshoot, and is probably a trial and error project at best. The locals know how as the excellent breads will testify.

The language is of course Spanish and Ecuadorian Spanish is spoken quite clearly and slowly compared to other Spanish speaking countries.  As English is taught in the schools and education is compulsory, almost all Ecuadorians have a smattering of English yet usually look at you with a blank stare.  Don’t count on always being understood even using the Spanish you learned in school as the pronunciation is quite different from American school Spanish. 

The Ecuadorian legal system is also quite different from what you are used to and is too complex to deal with here. Using a lawyer for any transaction is good advice.  Buying or renting property requires some local knowledge and a lawyer is essential. There is no MLS system and offerings are found out by the expat grapevine, the newspaper, or one of the “realtors” who hang out a shingle. A realtor shows you the property he knows about and sends you to a lawyer for the paperwork. Comically, it is almost always a cousin or uncle they refer you to.

There are no English newspapers but the local Spanish papers, El Mercurio and El Tiempo, can be translated into English using Google translate or a similar internet translator.  There are no English bookstores only the Carolina Bookstore which sells used books. It is shocking to find that Ecuadorians just don’t read like American’s do.  

Clothes don’t use American sizing numbers. As an example, a women’s size 7 shoe in the US is a size 36 in Ecuador.

Furniture made in Ecuador will be lower in height than in the US to satisfy the requirements of the smaller stature of the Ecuadorian people. If you have furniture made, they will ask you to sit and will measure the height of your knees and where your arms rest on a table or desk.

So, here is a lot of trivia that we hope will answer some of those nagging questions that are hard to find answers to.

The Internet

It has taken us three different companies to find one that will give us a good connection to the internet. Part of the problem is of our own making by not understanding what we were being advised by the person we contacted at each company. We first tried Porta which required eight visits to the store at Mall del Rio before we were up and running. Each visit required us to get some kind of additional documentation including a statement from our Ecuador bank stating that we were customers in good standing. We left them a month ago because we could not get a Skype connection that would last more than a minute and, even more often, no connection at all. Then, on a recommendation, we contracted with Etapa, the water company, who are another local internet provider. It worked just fine for a week but soon developed a critical condition that prevented us from connecting any time of the day except late in the evening.  Another friend had suggested we try Empresa, the electric company. Today, we signed a year’s contract with them and think we finally understand the connection problem. The key is the usage figure that they all quote. It is either 8:1, 6:1, 4:1 or a commercial rate of 2:1 or 1:1. The first number is the amount of people you will share the connection with. Therefore, 8:1 means you will share the time you are on with up to seven other people plus you when you are all connected at the same time. The more people on at the same time the slower the connection speed. Of course, the price goes up as the speed increases and the rate decreases. The way to figure the best plan is to divide the receiving speed, say 512, by the usage rate, say 4:1 to get a number that will be 128 and compare it to another plan that will give, as an example,  384 speed divided by 2:1 or 192. 192 is a faster rate than 128 so is supposed be a better connection. This is probably the reason we had so many problems with Etapa at a speed of 1200 divided by 8:1 ratio which gave us a rate of 150. But, who knows. It might be something else. Once you sign a contract, a technician will hopefully come to your apartment or home within a couple of days to install the modem on your computer. Empresa, the electric company, is a huge organization but required us to walk two blocks to the nearest copy shop to get a cedula copied. This happens all over, at the car registration, at the hospitals, or at the utilities. Almost everywhere they will not use their copy machines but make you go out and get one at a nearby copy shop. These little frustrations are just part of life in Ecuador but the internet connection has become a major trial for us and we can only keep our fingers crossed that it is solved once and for all. 

Making a living in Cuenca

We have mentioned before the fascinating and complex intricacies of the Ecuadorian marketing structure. As in every country, there are the more familiar stores, markets, and a conventional infrastructure that provides access to almost anything you might wish to buy. This represents the successful and more prosperous segment of Ecuadorian society. However, there is another level of marketing, the Mom and Pop store. 

 

A typical Mom and Pop fruit and vegetable store

Thousands of $1.50 pirated music and movie DVD's 

Infinitely more in number than the big shops, the Mom and Pop stores line every block in the city. In these small stores, often one room with a grate in front where the article chosen is passed through to you in exchange for your money, you will find every commodity from auto parts to fruit to electronics to building supplies to cooked meals.  These stores are the real backbone of the Ecuadorian economy and provide a good living for the majority of the population in the city.

Then there are the open air markets. Some of the most famous are the flower market and the huge mercados selling food and commodities.

The famous open air flower market in the courtyard of the Santuario Mariano Church

The live animal area of the Frera Libre Mercado

With no building or store front, there are the people who seem able to make a living by selling a product or their talent almost anywhere. Here you will find the more marginal income producers yet, by being able to sell something on the street, they have found a way to make a decent daily wage.  It is a thriving economy where you will find someone selling something on almost every street corner in the city. Here are just a few of the street sales people whose ingenuity you have to admire.

Selling raw milk door to door

Alpaca rugs displayed on the street corner

Street jugglers with the baby in his carriage

Hammock seller

Selling kites in the street median

Football jerseys for sale outside the stadium

A little restaurant in the street median

Ice cream carts on almost every street 

Three soccer balls for sale

Selling sheets of lottery tickets

The sunglasses salesman

Trucks, large and small, roam the streets selling propane gas cylinders

A seller of chickens having lunch on the job

A woman with a bicycle cart selling fresh juice while carrying her baby

A friendly chat while waiting to sell fresh cut flowers 

A fruit stand at San Francisco Park

We hope this photographic essay gives you a little appreciation for the industriousness of the Ecuadorian people who are ingenious in finding ways to earn a living. 

The Expats

One of the wonderful things about Cuenca is the size and vibrancy of the expat community. Four years ago, two of our most prominent expats thought it would be a good idea to have a weekly gathering of expats who live in or who are visiting Cuenca.  The concept was to share experiences and create a network of friends. They spread the word around and a few expats started meeting at a local restaurant on Friday evenings for a glass of wine and conversation.  

Over the years, the venues changed frequently from the Eucalyptus Café, to La Parola, to the Eucalyptus again and currently, to Zoe’s Restaurant as different people came up with new places to meet. During the last year, some 30 to 40 people have gathered on Fridays at Zoe’s. Some are just visiting and have heard through the grapevine that it is a fun and informative evening. Some are renting here for a month or so and are trying to decide whether to move to Cuenca or not. These people are usually thirsty for information. Others are expats who are long time residents who have put down roots and expect to stay for years to come and who attend to meet old and new friends.  But almost all find it an interesting evening with many people willing to share information and friendship.  If you are presently living in the US, Canada, or Europe and thinking of an international move, one of the things you are probably looking for is information, current information that is valid and has no hidden commercial theme. From our experience, there is no better place than the expat community in the city or region you are investigating.  We looked at Quito where there are many expats in the Tumbaco and Cumbaya areas but, from what we saw, there is no organized expat community.  There may be but we could not find one. We looked at southern Spain, which still interests us and where there are many expats from the UK who have summer homes along the coast. But there seems to be no functioning group of expats in the areas we researched. Everywhere you look, there are good blogs, good sources of information, but a real expat community is often lacking. There is an argument against belonging to a vibrant expat community. It is that shopworn argument that “The last thing we want is to export the same life style we are leaving.” We have not found that to be the case in Cuenca.  Our group of friends are from all over the world and have brought their interesting lives with them. This is not an enclave of Americans huddled behind closed gates who seldom go into the Spanish world around them. Our friends are scattered all over the city. They are involved in cultural and charitable events.  They lead exciting lives. Just read some of the blogs about Cuenca to see how “out and about” they are. What the expat gatherings have done is provide a venue where we have gotten to know each other and sorted out friendships which have become one of the strongest parts of our Cuenca experience. 

A boy in the mountains

This is the story of a curly, red-haired, five year old, city boy spending an afternoon in the mountains.  While we were doing some work on our house in Challuabamba, Jonny went outside to play.  He would usually find sticks to play with or rocks to throw or just plain explore the great outdoors. 

The fields next to our house are rocky, filled with waist high scrub brush and tough wild grass. What more could a boy ask for to explore? A half hour later, we went outside to check on him and couldn’t find him. We called his name and, from a hundred yards away and out of sight over a rise, he answered.  We heard him climbing up the hill and talking to someone. Minutes later, he arrived, his shirt covered with burrs. Dust and dirt covered his hands and smiling face. “I’ve been with my friends,” he said with a huge grin. Behind him came two young children followed by a dozen sheep slowly eating their way up the hill. Jonny had been playing with and talking to two shepherds, a boy of about nine and a girl of possibly eleven years.  They were both dressed in long sleeve shirts and pants that had been washed so many times no color remained only worn cloth the color of tan dirt. The boy held a long stick, a staff, that he used to herd the sheep. Jonny ran up to us with a baseball sized rock in his hand, saying “He gave me this stone. It’s special. He says it’s part of the mountain and he gave it to me.”  The children stood nearby, passively, watching Jonny and us without a saying a word. We climbed into our car to head back to the city with Jonny clutching his magic stone. We all waved goodbye.  They waved in return and went back to herding the sheep toward fresh, new grass. 

This was just a moment in our lives but there were strong images that we will remember for a long time.  Something is happening to Jonny. After a long adjustment, he is comfortable using Spanish. He seems no longer to be frustrated by a lack of language and the ability to communicate easily with other children who speak only Spanish. He is much happier now than before in being able to talk to them. It has taken over a year but we hear him jabbering away in Spanish with an ease far more advanced than ours.  He asked if we could go back tomorrow so he could go looking for his shepherd friends again.  He sees no difference in them. They were just new friends. Jonny, by Ecuadorian standards, is a boy that comes from a wealthy family but cannot distinguish rich or poor. We thought about how this child of five has no class distinctions, and as yet, no rules of how to relate to others who are different. Where do we get this dividing line later in life of who we should be friends with and who is not acceptable? Class, race, status?  Where does it come from?

 We thought of the shepherd children and how different their lives will probably be compared to Jonny’s. What will their lives become? School is compulsory in Ecuador but does anyone check up in the mountains to see if these children were going to school? If they go to a local public school, it is obvious that the minute they get home they are told to take the sheep out to feed on the mountainside. We know of many people on our mountain who live in little more than shacks with dirt floors and an outhouse in the field behind. 

It is almost certain that these two children live in a similar shanty.  In the city, poverty is all around us but we seldom see a homeless person. Almost every poor person finds some way to sell something and survive. In the country, families scratch a living from almost vertical hillsides, raise animals, grow vegetables, scavenge the land for herbs to sell, collect firewood, and more. 

All is done without the need for a national safety net or welfare.  These shepherd children may, unfortunately, be a perfect example of how an Ecuadorian country boy and girl may grow up knowing little more than their mother and father’s existence and carrying on a life style that may never change. For Jonny, it is a different story. He is learning how to deal with diversity and poverty and friendship in two languages. With all of the problems of raising a child in a foreign country, an encounter like this probably has no match in the US. It would be all but impossible for Jonny to gain the same understanding almost anywhere else other than in the mountains of Ecuador. It is our hope that he will be a better person for this experience and many more to come.